In one of Nic Esposito's most interesting Sustainability for the Everyday columns, he explains how encouraging citizen to grow their own food and keep backyard chickens could alleviate the strain on our resources such as fossil fuel and farmland.Photo Courtesy of Nic Esposito

The greenSTEM Network shows how sustainability and education can intersect. The program helps connect youth to the environment by giving students in Philadelphia-area schools the ability to monitor data from gardens, green roofs, and various types of green stormwater infrastructure.Image courtesy of greenSTEM

Keep Philadelphia Beautiful (a local branch of Keep America Beautiful) released its new Community Beautification Resource Guide in November--and the guide includes everything from city and nonprofit resources to event planning tips. The best part? It will be updated on a regular basis with new information.Photo Courtesy of Keep Philadelphia Beautiful

Kensington's popular Greensgrow Farms expanded to West Philadelphia in early April this year with the openning of the Greensgrow West garden center on the 4900-block of Baltimore Avenue. The garden center also includes a weekly farmer's market and CSA. This article also contains great photos taken of the new farm by Albert Yee.Photo by Albert Yee

City initiatives focused on the issue of sustainability may seem like the norm in Philadelphia, but this focus is in large part due to the Mayor's Office of Sustainability, which wasn't a permanent office back in May 2014 when this article was written. The office was successfully voted to become one this past November. Check out our coverage of the 2014 Greenworks Progress Report, too.Photo via Mayor’s Office of Sustainability